Tehran Newspaper Calls On Government To Stop Financing Shiite Seminaries

In a phone interview with Didban-e Iran news website Saturday, Mohammad-Taghi Naghdali defended proposed legislation by claiming a dog had killed children in a Tehran park. But in fact a more real reason for Iran’s conservatives is that keeping dogs is a symbol of Westernization, which they try to prevent.

A bill entitled "Protection of the Public's Rights Against Animals" was put on parliament’s agenda this week with the backing of 75 lawmakers. It would make illegal the buying, selling and keeping “pets” – from dogs and cats to snakes, hamsters, and rabbits.

Naghdali, a mid-ranking cleric and representative of Khomeini Shahr, argued that dogs can cause "serious nuisance and bodily harm to people" when left unattended in shared areas of apartment blocks.

Although the bill names all kinds of pets, even including crocodiles and monkeys, the main concern of parliamentarians is dogs. In July, the Kayhan newspaper called dog walking in cities a "major problem" and urged the judiciary to keep dogs away from public spaces including streets and parks. Tehran City council subsequently banned animals from public places.

Keeping dogs, always common in Iran’s rural areas and on farms, has only in recent years become popular in urban areas as Iranians have kept them as pets, despite occasional police crackdowns, particularly when dogs are spotted in cars. Within Islam, dogs are considered impure and some countries have tight restrictions: Saudi Arabia justifies its strict rules against keeping dogs in terms of the dangers of dogs attacking people, especially children.

Cats have never been a problem and have always been a part of urban and rural life, but the Islamic Republic wants to ban keeping dogs at urban homes.

Iran’s proposed legislation envisages a cash fine of $900-$2,700, with the animal being impounded. It would also oblige estate agents to ban dogs in rental agreements within three months of the law’s passing, with similar fines for non-compliance. Anyone walking a pet in the street could face a three-month jail term, or the confiscation of their car for three months if taking their dog for a drive.

The proposed law is yet another encroachment on citizens’ private life and adds another restriction to a multitude of other bans, such as drinking alcohol, dating, appearing in public without “proper Islamic dress” for women, mixed-gender parties, and singing for women.

Even the conservative Asre-Iran website attacked the proposal November 17 as a waste of parliament’s time. "Who is going to protect people's livelihood?” it asked in a commentary. “Why don't you propose plans for protecting people's assets in the stock market? Or why are you not doing something to increase the value of the national currency?”

Hossein Kashefi, the former chief of the Parties House, an umbrella organization that regulates relations among political parties, has said in an interview published by Arman newspaper on November 20 that the way Raisi is running the affairs of the state is not likely to instill hope for promising and essential change in Iran.

In recent weeks, many politicians and commentators from across Iran’s political spectrum have begun criticizing the president for inaction as prices rise and more people fall into poverty.

Kashefi said when Raisi was setting up his cabinet before his inauguration in August, only reformists were unhappy about the choices he was making, but now most of the critics of his cabinet's makeup are conservatives, like those who rejected his latest choice for the post of education minister in parliament last week.

Raisi's lack of success in bringing about positive change in people's lives, which is partly because of his wrong appointments, would dissuade foreign investors from coming to Iran, while foreign investment would be crucial in overcoming the current economic crisis, which is what the people want from the president, Kashefi said.

Kashefi added that choosing the right managers and ministers is key to such improvement, but he did not talk about the negative impact of US sanctions on foreign investment in Iran. However, he vaguely pointed out that only an improvement in the country's foreign policy could have prompted foreign investors to show an interest in Iran.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that nepotism in the Raisi administration that appears to be the most important factor leading to choosing the wrong people, and the fact that he has chosen individuals based on their kinship and political affiliation rather than their qualifications has prompted elite executive workforce to leave the country.

Raisi tweeted in response to similar criticisms following the rejection of his latest choice for the Minister of education in a November 17 tweet that he chooses his colleagues "not based on friendship or kinship or under pressure from the media," adding that he chooses his colleagues "based on their qualifications."

Several Twitter users rejected Raisi's argument in their comments. One reader responded: "But your performance and your choices for your cabinet are contrary to this commitment and what you promised in your election campaign. Your cabinet ministers either lack qualifications." Another user commented: "It is probably sheer coincidence that all of your ministers come from the Imam Sadeq University or are the sons-in-law of Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani."

On the same day, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's official Twitter page also posted a tweet that said, "There are elements in some universities who encourage highly talented young persons to leave the country. I say clearly that this is an act of treason."

Users wrote tens of comments that disagreed with Khamenei's view on the reason why young and talented Iranians leave the country for good. One user wrote: "You are the first and last reason why young people leave the country. You have ruined this country."

Another Twitter user wrote: "They will leave their country as long as they cannot get a job unless they have connections with insiders or are the sons-in-law of well-connected people." Many other users referred to two young elite students, Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, who have been jailed and tortured on vague political charges. Still another user reminded Khamenei in reference to similar cases: "The real traitors are those who arrest and imprison the talented people for fictitious charges without thinking of the consequences of what they do."

Mostafa Mirsalim, a long-time conservative politician, and former presidential candidate has said that the Raisi administration is unable to meet the people's expectations. Referring to frequent protests to economic hardships outside the Majles, Mirsalim said that people have every right to be unhappy about Raisi's performance.

Mirsalim also said that the government's inaction in solving economic problems cannot last for too long. He warned that "There are groups who might take advantage of the situation and make it even worse."

Moderate news website Rouydad24, which carried the interview with Mirsalim warned in a report by Mohammad Auyati that although most protests in Iran were political in nature until a decade ago, nearly all protests since have been motivated by declining prosperity. However, while the website attributed most economic problems to the impact of US sanctions, Mirsalim and other establishment politicians prefer not to mention the sanctions.

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The reason is that if sanctions are highlighted, questions immediately arise about Iran’s nuclear program and foreign policy. Already many commentators have been openly saying that without improvement of relations with the United States Iran’s economy cannot come out of its current crisis.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Bighash, another hardline lawmaker, said that the members of Raisi's economic team are not competent enough to tackle the country's ongoing problems. Referring to systematic corruption in Iran, Bighash pointed out that "Most of those who should address the problem of corruption in Iran are themselves involved in corruption in one way or another or their children are implicated in corruption-related cases. That explains why we have not been successful in dealing with corruption."

On Thursday, hardline academic Mohammad Sadeq Koushki said that "Raisi has not done anything to solve the people's problems," and warned that "this is likely to affect the public’s attitude toward his administration." Koushki said that the Iranian government has lost most of its political capital among Iranians during the past eight years under President Hassan Rouhani and the new government must try to rebuild confidence in the political system.

Koushki added that if people’s trust is not regained, the first thing that will happen is that voters will not welcome any election in the future. "Then all of us are likely to be drowned as we are all in the same boat," he said.

Last week, another member of parliament, Gholamreza Noori, also warned that criticisms of the Raisi administration are likely to intensify as the country's economic crisis continues. He said that the protests in 2018 and 2019 should have been an alarm for the country's officials about the implications of economic crisis, but officials appear to have lost their way and some of them are even implicated in financial corruption cases. Noori also warned Raisi that during the past three months more lawmakers have turned against him.

Not only the number of critics has been on the rise, but it appears that their rhetoric about the Raisi administration is getting increasingly intense. Moineddin Saeedi, representing Chabahr, in the underprivileged province of Sistan and Baluchestan said on Thursday: "The people have many expectations of lawmakers and the Majles is not likely to forgive the administration's errors."

Thousands of Esfahan residents Friday gathered on the dry bed of Zayandeh Roud river in the city center to support farmers who have been protesting for more than ten days demanding their water rights.

The crowd chanted slogans demanding their river flow again and booed when someone with loudspeaker mentioned Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s name.

A video received by Iran International shows riot police special trucks driving down city streets, possibly to position forces where the protest took place Friday. Due to Internet disruption, it is not clear how many people have remained there, although farmers have been camping in the middle of the riverbed for days.

The government in Iran often cuts the Internet during protests so few images could be posted by citizens on social media. It is also a way to reduce the ability of people to communicate and congregate.

Surprisingly, state television showed the protests and government-controlled print media reported on the demonstration, portraying it as “non-political” and legitimate.

Iranian media described minister Ehsan Khanduzi’s plan as the administration's economic manifesto for the next two years.

Khanduzi said that President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration took office when the inflation rate was at its highest point and the per capita income was at its lowest point in the modern history of Iran.

He said that the country needs a macro-economic blueprint to curb inflation and boost productivity and economic growth. Khanduzi's reference to macroeconomics came one day after the Iranian state-run television's news channel quoted some Iranian lawmakers as having criticized the minister for lecturing them about macroeconomic models during his meetings in parliament, rather than offering a way out of the current economic crisis.

Lawmakers and commentators from across the political spectrum have criticized the Raisi government for lack of any plans or concrete action to deal with the current economic crisis. The minister’s economic blueprint was apparently published to quell criticism, but as a document without much detail and revenue-generating suggestions, it might lead to more questions than answers.

Khanduzi said economic growth is not feasible without controlling inflation and returning stability to markets in a way that economic trends would be predictable.

But Iran’s nearly 50-percent annual inflation is because of printing money in the absence of oil export revenues.

Iranian officials, almost without an exception, use formulaic statements about saving the economy from the abyss, but few openly say that the crisis is directly the result of Iran’s foreign policy and its nuclear program that have triggered US sanctions.

Khanduzi added that Iran should take measures in terms of monetary policy, forex policy and budget policies in order to control inflation. He offered a roadmap in two pages which some social media users pointed out he had already outlined in his plans when he offered them to the parliament in August. Twitter user Iman Karami, a graduate student of Economics in Iran pointed out that the two-page roadmap contains nothing but "slogans and general statements."

According to the roadmap, Khanduzi's plan to curb inflation and boost productivity includes "controlling fluctuations in exchange rates, frequently checking the balance sheets of banks, and controlling growth in government's expenditures by reducing them to one-third of the current amount."

However, Khanduzi warned that these policies should not weaken industrial production. One of his solutions is concentrating on super-projects that will be the main driving force in production.

Khanduzi suggested that the National Development Fund should be used to fund these projects. The NDF is Iran's foreign currency reserve, which is controlled non-transparently by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and no one knows how much is left there after the government kept withdrawing funds in the past three years of US sanctions.

He also suggested that the super-projects could be funded by selling bonds, attracting foreign investment and channelling funds from government and quasi-state banks.

The problem with Khanduzi's funding suggestions is that foreign investors have been avoiding Iran fearing US sanctions and that Iranian banks have been giving loans to the government to cope with a nearly 50 percent budget deficit and have very little to offer for super-projects as many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Under the circumstances, his only solution might be to convince Khamenei to withdraw more funds from the NDF.